Same-day delivery: Is it important to online shoppers?

To nearly 24% of online buyers, the answer is “yes,” suggest survey data from Bizrate Insights.

We’ve been hearing so much about same-day delivery that we thought we would delve into what customers really think, need, want—and will pay for.

It depends: Products sold, Price point and retail footprint are influential

Over 100,000 online buyers answered Bizrate Insights’ question on whether or not same-day delivery from the retailer from which they just bought was important—and nearly 24% said “yes.” Looking at the category level, you see Gifts & Flowers and Computer Software (for which purchases are often downloaded) among others driving demand. We also took a look at luxury and higher end apparel retailers with retail store locations available in many major cities and see above average demand for Same Day Delivery.

It depends: The availability of alternate choices

What online retailers also need to consider is how many customers balk or consider abandonment because same-day delivery is not offered. For those customers that completed their purchase online, nearly 6% considered going elsewhere to buy for same-day delivery if it wasn’t already offered (n=79,904). For those customers who abandoned at the cart or checkout, only 1.1% did so because their order would not arrive in time for when they needed it.

Other Considerations: Order arrival timing vs. delivery costs

Once you get past the importance of the same-day delivery option and customers’ consideration of abandonment, you are left facing the question of cost. Both the high cost of same-day delivery and which is more important to online buyers—cost or order arrival date—factor into demand. Overwhelmingly, of the nearly 130,000 online buyers we asked, most are more concerned with costs!

What are online buyers willing to pay for same-day delivery? And what do they expect to pay? Most customers expect to pay more ($27.01 on average) than they would like to spend ($21.56 on average).

The Bottom Line

From what we see thus far, customers want same-day delivery, but at this point it is a too-expensive, nice-to-have option rather than a requirement to win their business. Unless, of course, you are sending flowers at the last minute!

BizRate Insights surveys online consumers on behalf of clients and provides ratings of retailers based on consumers survey data.